Letting Wie Play In Sony Open An Unnecessary Publicity Stunt

GOLF CONFIDENTIAL

January 14, 2004|By Steve Elling, Sentinel Columnist

When 14-year-old high school freshman Michelle Wie tees off Thursday at the Sony Open in Honolulu, she'll become the youngest player to compete in a PGA Tour event. Obviously, then, that means she'll also rank as the youngest female -- though hardly the first.

Just when it seemed that 2003 had produced every gender-blending female variable possible -- women also played on the Champions, Nationwide, Canadian and various Asian tours, and in a few made-for-TV events -- the islands toss a wahine into the mix in the first full-field tournament of '04.

"Wahine" is the Hawaiian word for female. Yet in any language, it might also translate to "exploitative publicity stunt."

When Annika Sorenstam last spring became the first female to play on the PGA Tour since 1945, her rationale was pure and her aim was true. After routinely destroying the LPGA competition, she wanted to play against the best, test herself and improve. She turned a few knuckle-dragging Neanderthals into converts in the process. Suzy Whaley, moreover, had earned the right to play when she teed it up last summer at Hartford by winning a PGA of America sectional title.

The decision to issue Wie a sponsor exemption smacks of marketing run amok, gimmickry and political grandstanding, thanks to Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, who interceded on Wie's behalf. Sure, sports are largely about entertainment and TV ratings, but we're hardly the only folks who wonder if event organizers have gone plain macadamia nuts. Wie is an amateur, a teen and a girl. What in the name of Jack Lord above are they thinking?

"I'm still not sure what they're trying to prove," said Ernie Els, this week's defending champion, of the seemingly endless feminine forays. "I said it before: If they are trying to prove something to themselves, great, everything for them. But what's the future? Are they going to go through tour school and play on our tour? I don't know."

Wie would like to do exactly that someday. Until then, she's on a fast-track path and willing to cut a few doglegs. Stars such as Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Els understand that her inclusion will bring increased attention to the event, yet each was ill-prepared for such a move when they were younger. Sorenstam told reporters last week that Wie is "jumping into the lion's pit and she's going to have to deal with it."

Woods waited to take on those lions. As dominant as he was as a junior player in Southern California, Woods didn't play in a tour event until he was 16. Though Wie is 6 feet tall and can smite a ball 300 yards, her lone victory of significance came last summer in Palm Coast, when she won the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship.

"I think it's good experience to obviously move up and play against people who are better than you," Woods said. "You do learn that way. But I also look at the philosophy, too, that you need to learn the art of winning. My dad was a big believer in that."

Said Singh: "You put young kids out there to learn how to win golf tournaments. For Michelle, she's not winning. It's always a negative when you don't win. She's not going to do that playing against the men."

Anymore, sports is akin to a video game, with attention spans growing as short as their synaptic gaps. For many, right now is not nearly quick enough -- and damn the long-term implications. B.J. Wie, Michelle's father, told reporters, "We have to take advantage of it. What if she refused to play the Sony Open? That's a waste of an opportunity."

There was zero chance of that. Wie's dad said last July that he hoped to secure a Sony exemption. Guess he had to accept it now, before the public got its fill of the gender cross-pollination stunts.

That isn't to say she's ready.

"I played my first British Open at 19 and I was way out of my place," Els said.

Britain? The boys in Boise were too much. That's where Wie missed the cut last summer on the developmental Nationwide Tour. She also missed the weekend in a Canadian Tour event. She tried to qualify for the Sony last year at age 13 and shot a respectable 73 against a field of men but failed by six shots. Now they've shoehorned her into the field instead.

Remember when golf used to be about the purity of competition between players who thrived or dived based solely on performance? Ah, those heady days of early 2003.

"I hope, like with Ty Tryon, it's not too much too soon for her and she gets to enjoy it," said Davis Love III, who has a 15-year-old daughter. "When I was 15, I wanted to be 25. When I was 25, I wanted to be 14. When you're 15, you always want to be older and doing things that older people do."

The inter-gender stunts have grown oldest of all. Wie is a uniquely talented, composed teen with a bubbly personality and an insatiable appetite to improve, but she's risking more than just personal burnout.

There's an overexposure backlash at stake, too.

In terms of public palatability, as some of Hawaii's souvenir T-shirts read, Wie could be here today, gone to Maui.